, 1 Preface to Online Edition This pamphlet was originally published five years ago to mark the fortieth anniversary of the 1975 Provisional Sinn Féin / IRA pogrom against the Republican Clubs / Official Republican Movement. Between 29th October and 11th November this pogrom resulted in the murder of eight members, ex- members, supporters of, or children of members of the Republican Clubs. This edition has been created using OCR technology to create an exact copy of the original document. The only change made is that the format has been altered from the original A5 format to an A4 format. We have also added a full sized reproduction of the cover and preface of the original 1975 edition of the Pogrom Booklet but which were not included in the 2015 edition. We hope that this online edition detailing the events of 1975 will bring clarity and a fresh analysis to a new readership. The Workers’ Party 2020 "Our involvement now encompasses not only agitation for full civil rights in all of Ireland but affairs which might once have been considered beyond the scope of Republicanism. But we know that if we are to succeed in building a revolutionary party, we must be involved in every area of struggle and not confined within the narrow limits which once constricted the movement's development." "They questioned me about the Republican Clubs' Socialist policies and swore at me for being a vice-chairman and a rotten bastard of a socialist." To truly honour our fallen comrades means building the Workers' Party. 2 Preface This booklet is published by the National Commemoration Committee of the Workers' Party as a contribution to remembering the sacrifices made by our comrades, friends and families in the difficult and bloody year of 1975 when so many were lost. 1975 was a time when our very political existence came under two very different threats. The first sprang from within, and was composed of a dangerous mix of elements who refused to accept the direction and vision laid out by the leadership with the support of the membership, a vision that led ultimately to the adoption of the name The Workers' Party in 1982. The second was an external threat and came in the form of a fascist pogrom launched by the Provisional Alliance with the cooperation of the British state at a point when they thought they would be able to finish off the Republican Clubs. How wrong they were. For those of us who were involved in the events covered in the pages of this booklet, it is a time to reflect on lost comrades and friends, on the sacrifices that were necessary to bring us to where we are today. It is also a time to consider the nature of how best to commemorate them. Gravestones, plaques, publications, events - all these are fitting ways to remember those who gave their lives for our Party not just in 1975 but at any time. They are important, and we take them seriously. However, we must also remember what exactly it was that the-then Republican Movement was dedicated to in 1975. That will be clear to anyone who picks up an old copy of the United Irishman, who reads any of the press releases or speeches from the time, or who looks at the lives of those killed. The-then Republican Movement was dedicated to transforming itself into a revolutionary party of and for the working class as a necessary step in creating a democratic, secular, socialist unitary state on the island of Ireland - a Republic. There are those who knew that then who today prefer to forget that, but we in the Workers' Party will never, can never forget that. To do so would be to betray the sacrifices made by our comrades to build the Workers' Party. Therefore, while we commemorate them in a range of ways, we never lose sight of one essential fact. The best tribute to our comrades is the Workers' Party itself, and its ongoing struggle, to forge the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter, to raise class consciousness, to educate, agitate, organise, and to create an Ireland ruled by the workers, for the workers. To truly honour-our fallen comrades means building the Workers' Party. MIcheál McCorry Chairman National Commemoration Committee Belfast, 2015 3 Introduction On May 29th 1972, the Republican Clubs announced that the IRA had decided to call a ceasefire "in view of the growing danger of sectarian conflict" and in recognition of the fact that then "overwhelming desire of the great majority of all the people of the North is for an end to military actions by all sides". The statement made clear that political struggle for the end internment, against state repression, for the repeal of the Special Powers Act, and for full democratic and political rights, particularly for the Republican Clubs, which remained illegal, would continue. The Republican Movement's goal of building a mass movement capable of bringing about a "true revolutionary situation" and a democratic socialist republic was reiterated. This visionary decision to call a ceasefire, taken in the interests of all the working class people of Ireland at what proved to be the worst of the Troubles, represented "an invaluable opportunity for us to avoid sectarian civil war which the Provisional bombing campaign is threatening to provoke". A few weeks later, on June 18th, at the annual Wolfe, Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Sean Garland, National Organiser of Sinn Féin, made a major speech reiterating the strategic analysis and goals of the Republican Movement, and calling for the building of a revolutionary party as the only means to establish a democratic, secular, socialist republic on the island of Ireland. It outlined the approach that formed the basis of the transformation of the Republican Movement into the Workers' Party. Garland's speech rejected terrorism as a means that no-one genuinely concerned with the "revolutionary organisation of the working class" could employ, and stated clearly that the Republican Movement rejected the idea of bombing one million protestants into a republic. Moreover, it was essential to recognise that military actions regardless of their intentions were having adverse consequences, feeding sectarianism and strengthening reaction. "The revolutionary party of the people recognises only the unity of the working class and will not now engage in any campaign which could only have the effect of helping the miserable rulers of the working class to survive." Garland also made clear the Movement's rejection of elitism and conspiracy, noting that a revolution must be made by the people, not a small group. "We can, we must and we will respond to one imperative and to one imperative only - the will, the popular vision, of the mass of the Irish people ... The Republican Movement has no desire for violence, no preoccupation with bomb and bullet. And let it be understood that the Republican Movement derives no pleasure from illegality, no comfort from being presented as an underground force secretly plotting the overthrow of the State. The illegality has been imposed on the Republican Movement, not by it." 4 On behalf of the Movement, Garland called for an all-embracing struggle to democratise and revolutionise Irish society, north and south, a struggle to be fought in the schools, the churches, the factories, the fields, the shops and the streets. At the head of that struggle, there must be a revolutionary party, a party dedicated to, as Lenin liked to put it, agitating, educating and organising among the working class and to representing the interests of the workers against the capitalist class at home and abroad. "Our involvement now encompasses not only agitation for full civil rights in all of Ireland but affairs which might once have been considered beyond the scope of Republicanism. But we know that if we are to succeed in building a revolutionary party, we must be involved in every area of struggle and not confined within the narrow limits which once constricted the movement's development." The opponents of that cause were the imperialists, the capitalists at home and abroad, the clergyman seeking to dominate society, whether Catholic or Protestant, those engaged in sectarian violence, ultra- leftists, and opportunist social democrats who spoke the language of socialism, but only lusted for power. No matter how powerful these forces of reaction, they could not defeat "a people conscious of its rights, determined in its demands and organised to meet the challenge of the oppressor. Let me repeat once more that organisation, education and agitation must, first and foremost, be the means that we employ to fight the people's fight." “Let me repeat once more that organisation, education and agitation must, first and foremost, be the means that we employ to fight the people's fight." While the Movement maintained the right to take defensive action, and did not discount the possibility that some day a revolutionary situation would result in the need for violence, Garland's speech made clear the primacy of politics, of peaceful work among the people to raise class consciousness and build a revolutionary party capable of taking power and reorganising society in the interests of the working class. The ceasefire of May 1972 and the Bodenstown speech of June 1972 were watershed moments in the history of the Workers' Party. They are also essential to understanding the context in which the tragic events of 1975 occurred. Elements led by Seamus Costello within the Republican Movement refused to accept the strategy and analysis adopted during 1972, and democratically endorsed subsequently. Their attempts to overturn by plotting what they could not prevent democratically had tragic results in the spring of 1975.